HIGH TEMPERATURE PLASTICS | MATERIALS
Plastics that can handle the heat
High temperature thermoplastics are increasingly replacing metals in automotive, aerospace, electronics and domestic
appliances.Peter Mapleston reports on developments in PA, PPA, PPS, PEEK and other polymers
Injection moulders and specifiers may be forgiven for not knowing which way to turn when it comes to choosing thermoplastics with resistance to high temperatures. In recent years, portfolios of high temperature polyamides (most but not all of them polyphthalamides, PPAs), polyphenylene sulphides (PPS), polyaryletherketones (PAEKs, of which the most famous is polyetheretherketone, PEEK), and polyetherimide (PEI), have all grown substantially, as material suppliers work to cater for growing demand. Interest in high-temperature-resistant thermo- plastics (HTPs) is coming from all directions. That’s the view from Brett Weishalla, Senior Product Development Engineer at major compounder RTP Company in Winona, MN, USA. “While the manu- facturers in the automotive, aerospace, oil and gas, electronics, consumer goods, and semi-conductor markets have been long-time users of HTPs, particular segments - such as electric vehicles or e-cigarettes - are quickly developing into market spaces of their own,” he says. At Conventus Polymers, an up and coming specialty thermoplastics distributor and formulator based in Parsippany, NJ, USA, company president John Jorgensen says HTPs typically offer ancillary benefits in addition to temperature resistance, such as inherent flame resistance, excellent flame,
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smoke, and toxicity (FST) properties, superior chemical resistance, good creep resistance, very high purity, and many others. “HTPs continue to increase in popularity as options for metal replacement in many industries with critical applications, including automotive, oil and gas, healthcare, semi-conductor, electrical, fluid handling, membrane/filtration, food service, and aerospace to name a few,” Jorgensen says. BASF is among leading polymer producers
innovating to respond to this increase in popularity. It has launched no fewer than three new families of PPAs – polyamides with extra high temperature resistance thanks in part to their semi-aromatic nature – since just before K2016, explaining that “this fundamental market challenge cannot be solved by a single material”. The company’s PPA portfolio, which comprises some 50 compounds, is now based on four polymers: Ultramid T KR, a PA6T/6, which BASF has been selling since the 1990s; Ultramid Advanced N, a PA9T unveiled at K2016; Ultramid Advanced T1000 (PA6T/6I) introduced at Fakuma 2018; and Ultramid Advanced T2000 (PA6T/66), which debuted at Chinaplas 2019. At the launch of Ultramid Advanced T2000 in May, Abdullah Shaikh, head of the global PPA team
September 2019 | INJECTION WORLD 39
Main image: Interest in HTP materials is coming from varied markets and applications
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